Cher can still wow them

Wednesday

Jul 3, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Liz Smith

‘Ithink the longer I look good, the better gay men feel,” said Cher, who clearly intends gay men to feel good — forever! (Cher’s resistance to excessive aging and the overturn of DOMA has most gay people feeling really good right now!)

You have to really love Cher to attend an event on a Thursday night where it doesn’t begin until 1 a.m.

Well, lots of people love Cher, and that’s exactly what they did last week at Marquee, way downtown in NYC. Cher played her latest single “Woman’s World” and was just generally fabulous. She looked great, spoke briefly, seemed shy (she is, actually!) and then went into her “performance.” This consisted of sitting with the DJ, playing her song and — again — just being fabulous. It wasn’t a terribly long visit, but everybody seemed thrilled simply to be in the presence of the one and only Cher.

But before she went to the DJ’s booth, Cher watched from a balcony as a variety of drag queens paid tribute to the indestructible star. Cher was much amused and sang along to her old hits as the drag queens lip-synced. There were a surprising number of very young fans on hand, and they knew the lyrics of every Cher song, going back to “Dark Lady” and “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.”

Accompanying Cher was her blond, glamorous longtime PR woman, Liz Rosenberg. She danced with Cher; Liz is a star in her own right. And a woman of infinite patience and surprising sanity. (She has also repped Madonna for more than a quarter century!)

And Cher did more than simply play her new single on Sunday. She belted out a batch of her songs at the annual Dance on The Pier benefit celebrating Gay Pride Day. It became the event’s first sellout in five years, and the star was rapturously received. The crush, the heat, the humidity did nothing to quell the crowd’s enthusiasm or Cher’s incredible energy. She still has a voice as solid and strong as it was in the good old Sonny and Cher era. (She didn’t need the wild red wig, but it added to the fun.)

This performance bodes well Cher’s coming tour — which now even she makes fun of, as in — will it be her “last farewell”? She says, “Probably not.” Good! Cher was adorable on “The Today Show.” She is so earthy and real and gets herself and the whole crazy business of “being Cher.” That’s the reason she’s lasted and will be around for as long as she wants to be around. This woman won’t ever be shown the door. She’ll open and close it herself, thank you very much.